Vehicle headlamp with two light sources

ABSTRACT

A main parabolic reflector has an iodine lamp located slightly in front of the reflector focal point. A masking element below the lamp defines a plane below which no light from the lamp strikes the reflector. An auxiliary reflector having an aperture substantially one half that of the main reflector has a second iodine lamp at its focal point. The vertical axis of the auxiliary reflector is spaced from the vertical axis of the main reflector, and the aperture of the auxiliary reflector is tangent to the plane defined by the mask.

United States Patent (111 3,622,778

[72] Inventor PlerreCibie l,798,l32 3/l93l Bredsvold 240/4135 Paris, France 2,020,130 [1/1935 Astor 240/4125 X [2]] Appl. No. 780,978 2,122,465 7/1938 Graves 240/4125 :iled d 2 23% FOREIGN PATENTS 1 i 580,397 8/l924 France 240/41 [731 Cibie 1,499,176 9/1967 France 240/4135 Boblgny, France [32] Priority Dec. 19, 1967 Primary Examiner-Samuel S. Matthews 33 France Assistant Examiner-Robert P. Greiner [31] 132,870 AnorneyBreitenfeld & Levine [54] VEHICLE HEADLAMP WITH TWO LIGHT SOURCES 2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl 240/4135 240/4125, 240/44 R ABSTRACT: A main parabolic reflector has an iodine lamp [5 l 1 Int. located in fyont of the reflector focal point A F21V 7/116 element below the lamp defines a plane below which no light of Search from the lamp trikes the reflector An auxiliary reflector hay. 44, 44-1, 41 41-35 ing an aperture substantially one halfthat ofthe main reflector has a second iodine lamp at its focal point. The vertical axis of 156] References Cited the auxiliary reflector is spaced from the vertical axis of the UNTTED STATES PATENTS main reflector, and the aperture of the auxiliary reflector is 1,357,761 11 192 0 i 3 rown..

tangent to the plane defined by the mask.

This invention relates to vehicle headlamps with two light sources, each source cooperating with a reflector to provide an individual light beam.

Headlamps of this type have long been known in principle, in particular in their French Pat. No. 1,499,176 the applicants described such a headlamp using a main reflector cooperating with a light source with two filaments providing at the same time dipped beam and main beam, and a secondary reflector of smaller aperture than the main reflector housed in the main reflector and cooperating with a light source to produce a main beam.

The present invention relates to a headlamp of this type which takes into account the following considerations:

a. For producing a dipped beam, it is preferable to use a reflector constituted by a body of revolution advantageously having a diameter of aperture in the order of 160 to 180 mm., both for optimum illumination and for reduction of dazzle,

b. halogen lamps give an excellent distribution of light and are therefore to be preferred to standard lamps,

c. when main beam is changed to dipped beam, or vice versa, the surrounding illumination, close to the vehicle, should remain as constant as possible,

(I. it is advisable to avoid any stray rays which could be caused by interception by the auxiliary reflector of the beam reflected by the main reflector, while retaining as broad a beam as possible.

The headlamp according to the invention makes it possible to achieve all these advantageous results.

According to the present invention, there is provided a vehicle headlamp comprising a main reflector for providing a dipped beam and constituted by a paraboloid of revolution cooperating with an iodine lamp placed slightly in front of the reflector focal point, and with which a masking element is associated for defining the plane of cutout of the clipped beam, and an auxiliary reflector for providing a main beam and constituted by a paraboloid of revolution with an aperture equal to substantially half that of the main reflector and being disposed in the lower part of the main reflector so as to cooperate with an iodine lamp placed at its focal point, the axis of the auxiliary reflector being laterally displaced in relation to a vertical plane passing through the central axis of the main reflector so that the aperture of the auxiliary reflector is below the plane of cutout and substantially tangential to the plane or planes of cutout defined by the masking element.

Preferably, the auxiliary reflector is mounted on the lower part of the main reflector so as to be adjustable in height.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a headlamp according to the invention in diagrammatic, axial, vertical section, and

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic front view of the head lamp.

The headlamp according to the invention comprises a main reflector l, traversed by the axis AA, which constitutes the main fore-and-aft axis of the headlamp. An iodine lamp 2 is disposed slightly in front of the focal point F of the reflector 1,

and below the light source 2a of this lamp 2 there is arranged a masking element 3 defining a plane of cutout CAC (FIG. 2). By plane of cutout" is meant in the usual manner, the axial plane or the two axial planes passing through the lateral parts of the screen 3. The light beam which is interrupted by the screen 3 and which is reflected by the upper part of the main reflector l is a dipped beam, the rays of which are directed downwards, and which is limited by the plane of cutout CAC'- There is associated with the reflector I a reflector 4, constituted by a paraboloid of revolution the diameter of which is substantially equal to half that of the reflector l. The axis BB of this reflector 4 is displaced laterally by distance d in relation to the vertical plane passing through AA in such a way that the shape of aperture 4a of the reflector 4 is substantially tangential to the plane of cutout CAC and is located below it. This ensures that no ray coming from the lamp 2 and reflected by the reflector l is intercepted by the auxiliary reflector 4. An iodine lamp 5, the light source 5a of which is at the focal point of the reflector 4 provides a main beam.

Preferably the reflector 4 is mounted on the lower part of the reflector l, by means of an appliance 6 mounted on the reflector l by flexible screwing means 7 and a control screw 8, thus making possible tilting of the axis BB, and consequently a regulation of the height of the main beam.

The diameter of reflector 4 is limited, since at most its aperture 4a must be tangent to the plane of cutout CAC'. If the aperture were larger, so that it extended above plane CAC, rays from reflector 1 would be intercepted by reflector 4. By arranging the screen 3 so that the plane of cutout CAC is oblique to a horizontal side-to-side axis of reflector l, as shown in FIG. 2, and spacing the vertical axis of reflector 4 laterally from a vertical plane passing through axis AA, it will be appreciated that aperture 4a of reflector can be made larger than if spacing d did not exist. Thus, reflector 4 is large enough to produce a broad main beam without interfering with rays from reflector 1.

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle headlamp comprising a. a main reflector for providing a dipped beam, said reflector having the shape of a paraboloid,

b. a lamp located in front of the focal point of said main reflector,

c. a masking element beneath said lamp and defining a plane of cutout below which no light is received from said main reflector, said masking element being arranged so that the plane of cutout is oblique to a horizontal side-toside axis of said main reflector which passes through the front-to-rear axis of said main reflector,

d. an auxiliary reflector for providing a main beam, said reflector having the shape of a paraboloid, the vertical axis of said auxiliary reflector being laterally spaced from a vertical plane containing the vertical axis of said main reflector, and the aperture of said auxiliary reflector being below and tangent to said plane of cutout and e. a lamp located at the focal point of said auxiliary reflector.

2. A vehicle headlamp as claimed in claim 1, in which the auxiliary reflector is adjustably mounted on the main reflector. 

1. A vehicle headlamp comprising a. a main reflector for providing a dipped beam, said reflector having the shape of a paraboloid, b. a lamp located in front of the focal point of said main reflector, c. a masking element beneath said lamp and defining a plane of cutout below which no light is received from said main reflector, said masking element being arranged so that the plane of cutout is oblique to a horizontal side-to-side axis of said main reflector which passes through the front-to-rear axis of said main reflector, d. an auxiliary reflector for providing a main beam, said reflector having the shape of a paraboloid, the vertical axis of said auxiliary reflector being laterally spaced from a vertical plane containing the vertical axis of said main reflector, and the aperture of said auxiliary reflector being below and tangent to said plane of cutout and e. a lamp located at the focal point of said auxiliary reflector.
 2. A vehicle headlamp as claimed in claim 1, in which the auxiliary reflector is adjustably mounted on the main reflector. 